


Cookies and Canoodling

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Christmas Fluff, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Fluff, Het, Rare Pair, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 23:14:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8820103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Christmas at the West house means they go all out on Christmas Eve. This year, Caitlin brings along one of her traditions.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boomersoonerash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomersoonerash/gifts).



> Theme : free for all  
> Prompt: The Flash, Caitlin Snow/Joe West, Christmas cookies.
> 
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/775203.html?thread=101095459#t101095459
> 
> So I actually wrote this during the week for an earlier lonely prompt (same fandom and pairing, Christmas songs theme, Rocking around the Christmas tree) but realised when I saw this prompt this morning that it fitted this one better! I'll go back to the other one, I promise!

The most off-key rendition of "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" he'd ever heard greeted Joe as he pushed open the kitchen door and he hid a smile as he stepped inside, closing the door firmly behind him. Caitlin mustn't have heard him, lost in her own little world, because she didn't turn, didn't so much as glance in his direction as she moved towards the oven, a little shimmy in her step as she reached for the oven gloves. 

It was the shimmy that did him in, the sway of her hips like a siren's song and he sang the next line of song with her, not feeling the least bit guilty when he saw her startle a little, spin to face him. He didn't stop singing as he walked towards her, took the oven gloves from her hand and threw them on the countertop, taking her hand in his as he slid his other arm around her waist, waltzing her around the kitchen rather than rocking her around the Christmas tree. There was a flush to her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes that told him she didn't mind the difference. 

She was laughing and breathless - maybe a little more than the dancing alone could account for - when they stopped and he couldn't resist leaning in and dropping a kiss to her lips. He meant it to be quick and her hand moved to the back of his head, held him in place as she deepened the kiss and he didn't mind that at all.

Not as much as he minded it when she pulled away with a breathless little laugh that made him wish there weren't a houseful of people on the other side of the door. "Stop distracting me," she ordered, one that held no effect whatsoever when she was looking at him like that. "If these cookies are burned..."

He watched with great interest as she turned and went to the oven, grabbing the oven gloves on the way, leaning over to open the door and he may have been a little distracted by the view because it took a few seconds for the smell that wafted out to register with him. "Something smells good," he said as she straightened up, a tray of cookies in her hands and, very carefully, he went up to her and kissed her cheek. "And for once I don't mean you." 

She narrowed her eyes but she was beaming too. "Flirt," she accused and he let one shoulder rise and fall in a shrug, knowing he was guilty as charged, knowing he'd say stuff like that all day every day if it made her smile up at him like that. 

"Does it get me a cookie?" He was already reaching for one and she slapped at his hand, completely ineffectually as he was too quick for her. Straight from the oven, it was still red hot and he juggled it in between his hands, blowing on it as she shook her head, a smile that looked decidedly fond hovering around her lips. 

"My dad used to do that," she murmured, more to herself than him, he thought. "Ronnie too." She glanced up at him then, her smile brighter again. "No patience." 

He lifted an eyebrow. "Only for the things that matter," he told her and she blushed because they both knew he wasn't talking about cookies. It had taken them a long time to get here and it hadn't always been easy, huge amounts of patience being required on both their parts. It had been worth it though and when she stood beside him, kissed him again, it was her way of telling him that she agreed. 

It turned out that the cookie tasted even better than it looked and when he had his first mouthful, he looked at her with unmistakable admiration. "If I knew you baked like this, I'd have kissed you sooner," he told her and she paused putting the cookies on a plate to look at him with one eyebrow raised. 

"I thought I kissed you?" But there was a glint in her eye and a curve to her lips that let him know she was only teasing him. Besides, they'd had this conversation before, more than once and he finished it now as he usually did, by kissing her again. 

"Seriously," he said then, chewing the cookie slowly, savouring it. "Where'd you learn to bake like this?" 

"My grandma." Her eyes were suddenly far away. "Dad's mom. She used to mind me when they were working. Which was a lot. And I was all about the science and so serious about wanting to be a doctor, just like them..." She grinned. "Gran told me that baking was like a special kind of chemistry experiment, where you had to have all your equipment ready, all your chemicals measured right and, if you followed the procedure, you got to eat the results." He laughed out loud at that, she followed suit. "Of course, I think Dad ate most of the results, but I didn't care..." Joe had finished his cookie by then, reached for another and she smacked his hand again. "Leave some for everybody else." 

He pretended to consider it. "How about no?" he asked and she gave him an exasperated look that didn't quite meet her eyes. "Just one." 

She sighed, rolled her eyes. "Just one." She shook her head as she held out the plate. "I swear, you're worse than Cisco."

As if speaking his name had conjured him up, as Joe lifted a cookie from the top of the pile, Cisco's voice floated through the still closed kitchen door. "Something sure smells good in there, Caitlin." He was speaking loudly, more loudly than he really needed to, but the door didn't open. "And some of us are getting hungry!"

Joe blinked, taken aback. This was far from the first time Cisco had been in his house and he'd never shied from entering a room before. He looked from the door to Caitlin and saw her obviously struggling to contain her laughter. "Cisco," she called, "would you like to take some cookies into the living room for me?"

"Oh thank God." At that, the door did open and Cisco barrelled in, his eyes flicking between Joe and Caitlin, then landing on the plate of cookies. He made a beeline for it, took it from her hands and turned on his heel with a flourish. "You may now resume your canoodling." 

He was gone by the time Joe realised what he'd said and Caitlin didn't try to hide her amusement, either at the words or Joe's reaction to them. "Do they all think-"

Caitlin's grin stretched from ear to ear and her eyes danced with merriment. "Yep." Which, now he came to think about it, made a certain amount of sense. After all, he and Caitlin didn't engage in any sort of PDA, partly because Caitlin wasn't a fan, mostly because even something as mild as them holding hands had the power to freak Iris and Barry out completely. Joe was taking it as some sort of cosmic karma for the way he'd felt when they first got together. 

And of course, right now, there was one advantage to that. 

"So they're not gonna come in here any time soon?"

Caitlin's smile turned knowing as she shook her head. "Nope." Her hips swayed a little as she walked towards him, as much a siren's song as ever. 

"Well then..." His hands slid around her waist, rested on the small of her back as her arms went around his neck and he brought his lips down to hers. "I'd hate to disappoint them..."


End file.
